In 1972 Nabil Shaban interviewed at Hereward College in Coventry to do a course for the Ordinary National Diploma (OND) in business studies where Richard Tomlinson sat on the interview panel. When asked by Richard if he had any interest in drama, Nabil informed the panel that it was his greatest desire to be an actor.

Prior to this meeting, Nabil had spent a great deal of time trying to figure out how to begin a career in the performance industry, however, given the highly exclusionary nature of the industry, there had been little traction. Preceding the origin of Graeae there were very few opportunities for disabled performers, as such Nabil thought his best chance at becoming a performer would be to create his own theatre company after becoming a successful businessman.  

 Richard ran theatre workshops for students at the college where they would have a chance to perform and tell their own stories on stage. When Nabil arrived at Hereward in 1973, he sought out Richard only to find out that the workshop was already full, however, he was more than welcome to sit in on rehearsals. Nabil became the stage manager for that first production, Never Mind You’ll Soon Get Better. The show featured accidents and the stories of how each participant experienced disability. This production was reworked and eventually led to a sequel of sorts, Ready Salted Crips. 

 Ready Salted Crips was also devised by the students and continued to speak to the lived experience of disability and the perceptions of non-disabled people’s attitudes towards disability. Ready Salted Crips premiered in spring 1974 and then began to tour Warwick. Ready Salted Crips would eventually be further devised and transformed into Sideshow, Graeae’s first official production. Nabil and Richard continued their work together until the Summer of 1975 when Nabil left Hereward and Richard left to work for the University of Illinois for a year. Prior to their departure, Richard asked Nabil if he would like to open a disabled theatre company someday and the seeds of Graeae were planted. 

 The late 70s and early 80s saw the beginnings of the disability rights movement. In 1977 UPIAS published the Fundamental Principles of Disability, outlining the social model of disability. The definition of the social model of disability is that people are disabled by barriers in society, not by their impairment, or disability. Graeae still utilised the social model of disability today.